haid joule ja head uut aastat (or, merry christmas!)

Matt and I had our first foray into Estonian cooking this week. We were hosting the December gathering of HomeSchool, the affordable online art shop I run with Jess Hirsch and Jacqueline Mention, at my apartment, and we figured it was a good opportunity to get our feet wet (and they were, literally, thanks Arctic Blast '08!). We picked out a couple things from our Estonian Tastes and Traditions cookbook that would be good for sharing, a chicken liver pate, deviled eggs, potato pancakes with applesauce (perfect for Hannukah) and cookies.

Neither Matt nor I had ever made any kind of pate before, so I stocked up on helpful hints (and a terrine pan) from work, took a gander at Maggie's trusted delicious recipe, and cross-referenced other cookbooks. Matt ended up making the pate when I was at work, and found it to be quite easy (and I found the result quite pleasing). The Estonian recipe called for Cognac, and we didn't have any - it would have been a literal trek through the snow to a liquor store to acquire some - so he used the Port we had instead, but otherwise he stuck pretty close to the recipe. The result was a very simple and hearty pate flavored only slightly with warm spices and the Port (according to Nami-Nami Estonians do not use a lot of spices). In the future I would like to play with other meats and the addition of other classic Estonian ingredients like lingonberries.

Jacqueline ended up preparing the deviled eggs with us. We bought convential eggs from across the street at Safeway (they don't carry organic, and again, the snow, trekking...), and just a word to the wise, don't try this at home. I usually buy eggs from the People's Co-op (they have great farm eggs) or the farmer's market, and I know I am also totally spoiled by the Big Table eggs we have at Navarre, but really, no one should be eating eggs like these . In the dozen that we hard-boiled, FOUR were double-yolks. Those are some fertile eggs. Those chickens had to be pumped up on some serious baby drugs to get that kind of productivity ratio. Anyway, Estonian deviling called for a mixture of sour cream, hot mustard, salt and chives, all whipped together by Jack's expert hand. I liked the flavor a lot, although I think I would make them less creamy in the future, and I really liked the chives.

I was on potato pancake duty. Unlike latkes, which usually feature grated raw potato and onion bound together with flour, and are fried in oil to make individual pancakes, the Estonian potato pancake is made from grated boiled potato with thinly sliced leeks that have been sauteed in butter. The mixture is seasoned with salt and pepper then browned with butter as one big pancake in a cast iron skillet, then put into the oven to bake. The recipe was very straightforward, but the resulting concoction was problematic. There was a lot of residual wetness in the pancake that didn't dry out, and I wanted a crispier texture that I was unable to achieve using the butter/oven combo. I cut the pancake up into wedges as instructed, and then tried to pan-fry to finish, but kind of gave up after a few minutes. With my homemade applesauce, sour cream and some more chives, they tasted fine, but certainly weren't presentational.

To finish, Jack and I made mulled wine and Matt made Pig's Ears, a traditional Estonian Christmas cookie where essentially you fry sugar cookie dough that has been rolled and twisted into the shape of a pig's ear in oil and then dust with powdered sugar. Delicious!

Sorry we don't have pictures. I expect a camera shaped bulge in my stocking, so future endeavors will be better documented. I believe we are going to make an Estonian New Year's feast, so take a gander in a week! Until then, Happy Holidays.